iscover
Issue 36: January/February 1987
Army Wins Fight to Operate Battlefield Helicopters
The Australian Army has won its brief battle to gain control over the RAAF’s battlefield helicopters. Taking most defence observers by surprise, the late November decision by Defence Minister, Kim Beazley ushers in part one of a longer-term doctrine endorsing many of the recommendations made in the Dibb Report.
The Army battle for control of these traditional Air Force assets was relatively short-lived by modern standards. . From the first suggestion (which was not taken all that seriously at the time by those involved) to implementation took barely half a year, a mere eye wink in time considering the import of what was involved in material and philosophical terms,
What the decision means is that the Army (ADF) will take over the operation of the new Black Hawk helicopters arid what remains of the Iroquois fleet in years to come (refer story elsewhere this issue). The RAAF for its part will now operate only the heavy lift CH-47C Chinook which will remain based at Amberley. Army will take over the operation of No. 9 Squadron RAAF and its new Black Hawks from late 1987 when the first aircraft will roll out for Hawker de Havilland’s facility at Bankstown. This unit will then regroup to Townsville (Garbutt) where new Black Hawk base and maintenance (HdH) facilities are being built. It is not known at this stage if some of the aircraft would operate from nearby Lavarack Barracks though as far as Army is concerned we believe that practically all future group lift Black Hawks would be Townsville-based.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Australian Aviation a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Australian Aviation as a preferred news source.
